This invention relates generally to devices for expressing breast milk and more particularly to a maternity brassiere modified to accept a funnel shaped vacuum cup attached to a breast milk pump.
Breast pumps for extracting or expressing breast milk from a woman's breast for later use by an infant have been available for years. Typically, these breast pumps include a funnel shaped hood, or shield, that is placed over the nipple and a substantial portion of the breast. A reduced pressure or vacuum is intermittently generated in the hood in a manner which causes milk to be expressed from the breast within the hood. The milk then typically flows from the hood to a storage container for later use.
The process of expressing the breast milk as described, requires that the woman in some part, must disrobe or otherwise expose her breast(s) to the hood. In the event that she utilizes one of the prior art double hood breast milk pumps, then she almost certainly will remove her brassiere or undergarment in order to expose both breasts simultaneously. A process which is inconvenient and which requires privacy. Working or traveling mothers are disadvantaged by the need to express their breast milk wherein they must find a private place and manually manage the task throughout the process.
Prior art breast pumps, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,797,875 issued Aug. 25th 1998 to Silver and U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,899 and the LACTINA breast pump assembly manufactured and sold by Medela, Inc. to which the latter patent relates, have in common, a funnel-shaped shield or hood which is integrally formed as an extension to a containment assembly for breast milk. The hood itself is not detachable.
Prior art brassieres such as those in U.S. Pat. No. 4,390,024 issued Jun. 28th 1983 to Williams, which discloses detachable flaps for exposing the breasts, and U.S. Pat. No. issued Apr. 18th 1899 to Murray, which discloses hinged breast flaps, do permit access to the nipples of the breasts but neither provide facility for retaining in position a breast shield attached to a breast pump. What is needed is a convenient system which allows a woman to discreetly manage breast pumping while also allowing her to operate the breast pump hands-free so she may simultaneously execute other tasks.